Time is up, we need to take the next step, and the next step for progression should not include Bargnani:

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"However, it now looks like those thirteen games will serve as an indictment rather than an exoneration. Those thirteen games that should have pushed people out of their cynicism will now only sink people further into it. In typical Raptors fashion, those thirteen games that should have been the start of what is, instead represent yet another case of what could have been but isn't.

That's why it's time to trade Andrea Bargnani.

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Well, through eight games this season Bargnani is averaging 16.3 ppg on .357 shooting and just 4.6 rpg and he has no calf injury to blame as a reason for his lack of production. Opposing power forwards are averaging a blistering 20.5 PER against him according to 82games.com and the team is allowing a whopping 11.4 points per 100 possessions more when Bargnani is on the court.

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Perhaps more than anything, that is the reason the Raptors have to trade Bargnani. They can no longer shrug their shoulders at players that don't work to max-out their talent. That can no longer be a defining characteristic of the club. They cited DeMar DeRozan's work ethic as a big reason why they felt obligated to extend his contract. They cited Jonas Valanciunas' heart and hustle as big factors in not only drafting him fifth but being willing to wait a year for his arrival. They love the intensity of guys like Kyle Lowry and Amir Johnson. Those guys represent what the club says it wants to be about, which by extension has to mean that Andrea Bargnani does not.

If this club is so eager to move into the next phase of their evolution, then they have to admit that those thirteen games didn't mean what they thought they did. They have to work to expunge from the roster the pieces that don't fit the personality that the team so desperately wants to adopt, and that that process has to start by - finally - moving Bargnani out of Toronto."